Lawn and Toshakhana.

"Are women still buying lawn the way they used to about five years ago?" asked Pakistani lady Maliha Rehman. "There were women who would have buckets full of water in their cars so that the minute they bought their lawn suits, they could shrink the fabric and rush it off to the tailor." Sadly, "they are buying less than they used to." Because, the economy is so bad. "This will be perhaps the toughest Ramazan that most of our young citizenry has experienced in their entire lives: food prices skyrocketing due to increased demand, energy prices at unbearable levels, and new taxes carving out a large slice from household incomes." editorial in Dawn. "Consider the news: short-term inflation had surged to an eye-watering 46.7pc year-over-year in the week that ended on March 22, with onion, wheat, gas, petrol and diesel, tea, rice and egg prices almost double or more of what they were last year." Then there is Imran Khan. In April 2022, "Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan has been ousted from power after losing a no-confidence vote in his leadership." BBC. "No prime minister has ever completed a full five-year parliamentary tenure in Pakistan, and Imran Khan looked as though he could be the first." But, no. In October 2022, he "won six of eight national assembly seats he stood for in a weekend by-election...a vote he has called a referendum on his popularity. NDTV. Since then Khan has been demanding early general elections. Following his by-election victory, "Ousted Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan launched a 'long march'...in Islamabad to demand early elections, mounting pressure on the Shehbaz Sharif government, which is already in crisis." HT. A couple of weeks back, a non-bailable arrest warrant was issued against Khan for allegedly threatening Khatoon Judge Zeba Chaudhry. India Today. Following this, "Protests broke out in several cities across Pakistan...after Imran Khan asked his supporters to 'come out' for real freedom even if he is killed or arrested." ET. The arrest warrant was dropped after Khan attended court. NDTV. The economy is in crisis and the government has been negotiating with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for an urgently needed loan. But, "Days have turned into weeks and weeks into months, yet Finance Minister Ishaq Dar continues to insist on the imminency of a deal despite having nothing to show for six months of efforts." Dawn. As if all this chaos wasn't enough, Pakistan's Toshakhana has been robbed by all previous prime ministers. Toshakhana is the government department which is supposed to store gifts received by ministers and the president in their official capacity. wikipedia. Two weeks back, "The Pakistan's government has made public the record of gifts retained by important public office holders - presidents, prime ministers, politicians, bureaucrats, retired generals, judges and journalists - from foreign dignitaries in the past 21 years." TOI. Including Imran Khan. What a neighbor to have. Bad luck.